14 FAM 200
acquisitions
14 FAM 210
aCQUISITION OF SUPPLIES AND SERVICES
(CT:LOG-395; 04-05-2024)
(Office of Origin: A/OPE)
14 FAM 211 DEPARTMENT OF STATE ACQUISITION SYSTEM
(CT:LOG-1; 05-27-2005)
The Department of State Acquisition System ensures that the Department obtains the required supplies and services in support of its needs in an effective and efficient manner, with timely delivery and required quality, at reasonable prices, in accordance with the laws and regulations governing Federal acquisition.
14 FAM 212 ACQUISITION MANAGEMENT
(CT:LOG-378; 06-01-2023)
a. The Office of the Procurement Executive (A/OPE) establishes acquisition policy for the Department of State. (A/OPE) provides overall policy and Department management procedures for the acquisition system and is responsible for the appointment of contracting officers, acquisition career management, competition advocacy, and review and/or approval of solicitations and contracts.
b. The head of the contracting activity (HCA) manages the contracting activity, pursuant to Department of State Acquisition Regulation (DOSAR) 601.601-70. The HCA is responsible for many decisions in the acquisition process, as prescribed in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and the Department of State Acquisition Regulation (DOSAR).
c. The HCA is additionally designated as the Senior Accountable Official for Value Engineering (VE) at the Department. As such, the HCA ensures consistent Department-wide implementation of VE policies and procedures in accordance with OMB Circular A-131 requirements.
d. The Senior Procurement Executive (A/OPE) has designated HCAs in the following contracting activities for the purposes and within the limitations of the authority stated at DOSAR 601.601-70(a):
(1) Overseas posts;
(2) Office of the Procurement Executive, Office of Acquisitions Management (A/OPE/AQM);
(3) Foreign Service Institute (FSI);
(4) Office of Foreign Missions, Under Secretary for Management (M/OFM); and
(5) U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN).
e. In addition, the following offices have been delegated limited acquisition authority, although they have not been designated as HCAs:
(1) Office of Language Services (A/OPR/LS);
(2) Office of Overseas Schools (A/OPR/OS);
(3) Ralph J. Bunche Library (A/GIS/IPS/LIBR);
(4) Office of International Conferences (IO/C);
(5) Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL);
(6) Bureau of Administration, Office of Operations (A/OPR); and
(7) Regional procurement support offices; and
(8) Overseas Buildings Operations.
14 FAM 213 ACQUISITION REGULATIONS AND DIRECTIVES
(CT:LOG-378; 06-01-2023)
a. The following regulations pertain to Department of State acquisitions:
(1) The Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), Code of Federal Regulations Title 48, Chapter 1 (48 CFR 1), is the primary regulation for use by all Federal agencies for the acquisition of supplies and services;
(2) The Department of State Acquisition Regulation (DOSAR), Code of Federal Regulations, Title 48, Chapter 6 (48 CFR 6), implements and supplements the FAR;
(3) The Federal Property Management Regulations, 41 CFR 101, and the Federal Management Regulation, 41 CFR 102, regulate many aspects of property management, including public buildings and space, transportation and motor vehicles, and property utilization and disposal; and
(4) When contracting abroad, other U.S. Government agencies may prescribe their own acquisition regulations, e.g., the U.S. Agency for International Development Acquisition Regulation (AIDAR), the Department of Agriculture Acquisition Regulation (AGAR), and the Department of Commerce Acquisition Regulation (CAR).
b. The Department’s acquisition policies and directives are available for review.
14 FAM 214 CONTRACTING OFFICER APPOINTMENT
(CT:LOG-378; 06-01-2023)
a. The contracting officer is appointed in writing by the Senior Procurement Executive pursuant to DOSAR 601.603. The contracting officer is the U.S. Government’s authorized agent for soliciting offers and negotiating, awarding, modifying, and terminating contracts.
b. Only qualified U.S. Government employees may be appointed as contracting officers. This includes locally employed staff (LE staff―i.e., Foreign Service nationals, third-country nationals, and certain hired U.S. citizens) who may be appointed as contracting officers for acquisitions at $25,000 and below only. Appointments are by name only, not position-based, and specify the individual’s limits of authority (time, location of office or post, and dollar threshold). Form SF-1402, Certificate of Appointment, is commonly referred to as a “warrant.” As specified in DOSAR 601.603-3(c), personal services contractors are not eligible for appointment as Department of State contracting officers.
c. Procedure for overseas posts for Foreign Service officer contracting officer appointments exceeding $25,000:
(1) Posts must use the Contract Warrant Application System to request new or revised contracting officer warrants. All information requested by the system must be updated before A/OPE may issue a new or revised warrant. The Contract Warrant Application System and a Warrant System Users Guide may be accessed from A/OPE’s Intranet Home Page;
(2) Employees who have successfully completed the 4-week GSO Acquisition Module are normally eligible for warrants limited to $250,000 (standard warrants). Effective June 1, 2005, obtaining a new warrant at the $250,000 level requires completion of a minimum of 16 hours or 2 days of refresher training within the past 3 years. This means that employees requesting a $250,000 warrant on or after June 1, 2008, must show completion of refresher training if they graduated from the 4-week GSO Acquisition Module more than 3 years before;
(3) Employees who wish to qualify for a provisional warrant (up to $100,000) must complete a simplified acquisition course. The preferred course is FSI’s PA-229, Simplified Acquisition Procedures. This is a distance-learning course (see 14 FAH-3 H-341). Applicants will need to scan in their certificates of completion and send them to the Director, Evaluation and Assistance Division, A/OPE;
(4) Each post must ensure that at least two U.S. citizens are appointed as contracting officers. This will avoid gaps where no one at post has contracting authority; and
(5) Posts must notify their A/OPE desk officer via email when a contracting officer resigns, transfers to another post, retires, is no longer serving as a contracting officer, or is terminated. Contracting officer warrants are only valid for the location(s) specified on Form SF-1402, Certificate of Appointment, so departure of an employee from a post will automatically render the warrant invalid. A/OPE will update the information in the Contract Warrant Application System. To ensure continuity of procurement operations, post should ensure, to the maximum extent practicable, that there is a warranted contracting officer in place before the primary contracting officer resigns, transfers, retires, or is no longer serving as the primary contracting officer.
d. Procedure for overseas posts for locally employed staff (LE staff) contracting officer appointments at $25,000 and below only:
(1) The basic eligibility criteria and enhanced management controls specified in 14 FAH-3 H-342.1 must be followed;
(2) Posts must request contracting officer warrants for LE staff through the LE staff’s immediate supervisor; and
(3) Posts must use the Contract Warrant Application System to request LE staff warrants (the Contract Warrant Application System and a Warrant System Users Guide may be accessed from A/OPE’s Intranet Home Page).
e. Appointment procedure for domestic contracting activities:
(1) Domestic contracting activities must use the Contract Warrant Application System to request new or revised contracting officer warrants; and
(2) Domestic contracting officers are eligible for a Level I, Level II, or Level III warrant.
f. All contracting officers must retain and display the original of Form SF-1402, Certificate of Appointment, signed by the Procurement Executive.
g. A contracting officer appointment does not include the authority to sign Federal assistance agreements, i.e., grants and cooperative agreements. A separate grants officer warrant must be obtained to sign Federal assistance agreements (see Grants Policy Directive No. 1).
14 FAM 215 UNAUTHORIZED COMMITMENTS
(CT:LOG-378; 06-01-2023)
a. An unauthorized commitment occurs when a contractual agreement is made that is not binding on the U.S. Government solely because the U.S. Government representative who made the agreement lacked the requisite authority to do so. Acquisition agreements generally may be made only by warranted contracting officers acting within the limits of their warrants or acting upon specific Office of the Procurement Executive (A/OPE) authorization.
b. Procedures to ratify unauthorized commitments are identified in 14 FAH-2 H-130.
14 FAM 216 WORKING CAPITAL FUND SURCHARGE
(CT:LOG-395; 04-05-2024)
a. Pursuant to section 13 of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956, as amended (22 U.S.C. 2684) and 4 FAH-3 H-113.4-3, Working Capital Fund, the A/OPE acquisition program is funded by a surcharge to all customers, which is intended to cover the costs A/OPE incurs in providing its services to its customers. It collects these receipts from customers within the Procurement Shared Services (PSS) cost center. The Deputy Assistant Secretary for Acquisition determines the surcharge amount and publishes the current WCF surcharge on the A/OPE webpage.
b. The surcharge applies to both procurements (contracts) and federal assistance (grants) submitted to A/OPE. All offices should actively engage in appropriate budget planning to ensure adequate funding is on-hand in advance of issuing a funded requisition to A/OPE.
c. No reduction to the surcharge will be considered for procurement transactions regardless of dollar amount.
d. A reduction to the published surcharge will only be considered for federal assistance awards in excess of $100M for instruments awarded to international multilateral organizations (e.g., World Bank). Typically, such transactions are classified as voluntary contributions, assessed contributions, or letter grants. These awards usually are considered concluded upon dispersal of funds and therefore require reduced monitoring and evaluation and are also accompanied by terms and conditions distinct from those associated with standard grants.
e. A/OPE separately tracks grants expenses within its service center under PSS. The amount of any reduction in surcharge is dependent on full cost recovery of A/OPE's grants functions which are tracked as receipts generated year-to-date measured against projected operating and overhead expenses.
f. Any request to reduce the published surcharge should be made in writing to the Assistant Secretary for Administration and come from the requesting bureau equivalent. The request should account for the estimated operational level of effort, and any appropriate reduction in surcharge should be negotiated in advance between the requesting activity and A/OPE.
g. The minimum surcharge is 0.2% for federal assistance awards meeting the criteria of 14 FAM 216, paragraph c, with a maximum surcharge not to exceed $500,000. A/OPE will review the minimum surcharge and not-to-exceed amount on a biannual basis.
14 FAM 217 through 219 unassigned